The 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, came at a rough time for the United States. The United States and the USSR were deep in the cold war. Only months before the games began, the USSR Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and there was a possibility that the strong Soviets might not show. However, they arrived to the Lake Placid, there were Americans that did not show on the Summer Olympics in Moscow several months after. The 1980 Olympic Gold Medal victory on the home-ice for the United States Team was an uplifting victory. The Soviets had won every year since the 1960 Winter Games and were a team of well-seasoned players that had been playing together for many years.On theother hand, lack of young players was disadvantage for them. and needed to be reformed due to this. On the other hand, the Americans were a mish-mash of college students, some from rival schools (University of Minnesota and Boston University) but Coach Herb Brooks managed to unify his players, train them for a year (usual train for World Championships took few weeks in that time) and inspire them to victory.

Gold Medalist: USA

Silver Medalist: USSR

Bronze Medalist: Sweden

See also: Miracle on Ice